Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update June 8, 2015

On June 09, 2015

“Don’t rain on my parade.” Barbra Streisand. Record storms across the country didn’t stop job growth from surging in May.

Employers added 280,000 new jobs in May, above the 225,000 expected, as the labor markets continue to improve. After a brief falloff in March, job creations in May were well above the average monthly totals over the last year. Upward revisions to previous months also added 32,000 more jobs.

Job gains were seen in construction, retail and healthcare, while the mining sector continued to shed jobs due to the decline in oil prices. The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5 percent from 5.4 percent, as more Americans returned to the job market to actively look for work.

While the strong Jobs Report is good news for our economy overall, the positive economic data caused Mortgage Bonds to worsen. As a result, Mortgage Bonds fell below a key technical level. This could mean more volatility is ahead, and a potential uptick in home loan rates if Mortgage Bonds can’t reverse this trend.

In housing news, research firm CoreLogic reported that annual home prices, including distressed sales, rose 6.8 percent from April 2014 to April 2015. This marks the 38th consecutive month of annual increases in home prices nationally. In addition, prices were up 2.7 percent from March to April, but they are still 9 percent lower than the peak back in April 2006.

The key takeaway is that home loan rates are still near historically low levels, making now a great time to consider a home purchase or refinance.

Representing Mpls Police Officers

Always with the goal of working toward a safer, more livable city, our job is to improve working conditions for our members—police officers who work in Minneapolis—and to make certain their rights are protected.